A project to trap carbon emissions at the Peterhead gas plant in Scotland was officially awarded funding by the Government today.

An exact amount wasn’t revealed but it’s a portion of the £100 million pot put towards CCS research at Peterhead and another project, the White Rose.

Prime Minister David Cameron and the Deputy Prime Minister signed a contract with Shell for the project which traps CO2, turns it into a fluid and pipes it underground where it will be injected into porous rock.

The British oil giant is leading the project at SSE’s power station in Aberdeenshire which aims to capture 10 million tonnes of CO2 over 10 years.

Shell is contributing to the research stage of the project on top of government cash. Once it works out whether the technology is commercial or not it will make a final investment decision, likely to be taken at the end of 2015.

Ed Daniels, Chairman of Shell UK said: “The successful demonstration of the technology at Peterhead would be a step towards proving its commercial viability as a tool for mitigating climate change. It could also help diversify the North Sea oil and gas industry and so contribute to the sector’s long-term commercial health.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg added: “The innovation of the UK’s energy industry is something we should be really proud of and the fact that we are a world leader in carbon capture and storage is a great example of our country’s ingenuity.”